Reviewer: Iain Burnside
Lettered by: Dave Lanphear
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Publisher: Marvel
Marvel’s decision to launch a second volume of AMAZING FANTASY last year was one of many noble plans to widen their range of characters and stories. Unfortunately, most of these plans have been laid to waste due to a lack of promotion to counter the lack of interest that the existing fanbase actually has for brand new characters. Sometimes the sheer irrepressible quality of the book is enough for it to get a second chance, as with SHE-HULK, but for every relaunched RUNAWAYS there is a lame LIVEWIRES or a sorry SPELLBINDERS that are doomed to be as lost to the bookshelves as they are to the memory. With a number of these limited series flopping spectacularly in the direct market and being forced to rely entirely on the success of their digest-sized collections, where they inevitably faced stiff competition from more recognizable characters or from more renowned manga titles, it seems odd that Marvel would believe that an ongoing anthology title that introduces new characters would stand a chance of survival. The first six issues introduced as to Arana, a character instantly nullified due to the presence of Spider-Woman in the regular Marvel Universe and the continued cult success of the SPIDER-GIRL title. Indeed, her spin-off solo title appears to have been quietly axed, as it is missing from the 2006 solicitations. After that came a revamped version of the Scorpion in what was actually a pretty good story. Still, if a pretty good looking tree falls in a forest and nobody is around then the aesthetics are meaningless. That arc featured back-up strips featuring Vampire-by-Night, which led to the NICK FURY’S HOWLING COMMANDOS mini-series that, despite heavy promotion in most Marvel titles, has been met with unanimous disdain. A change of plans in the next two issues introduced a Western character named Vegas alongside the long missing-in-action Captain Universe, who recently got a bunch of one-shots with various other Marvel characters that seem to be doing nothing of note to a thoroughly unspectacular degree. AMAZING FANTASY is now selling in the region of 11,000 copies per month, which makes it the lowest selling ongoing Marvel title outside of the Marvel Adventures line (similarly aimed at the digest market but with the advantage of using Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four). They are not giving up on the project yet, however.
The next five issues will see Simon Furman reintroduce Death’s Head, presumably trying to raise sales on the back of Furman’s upcoming relaunch of the Transformers franchise for IDW. In the meantime we get the ‘anniversary’ issue of sorts. Everyone and their monkey knows what came from AMAZING FANTASY (vol. 1) #15 and Marvel, bless their hopeful hearts, are hoping for lightning to strike twice. Well, at the very least they would like a bit of thunder or a spot of rain. To this end they have six of their ‘Ten Terrific’ writers come up with eight-page stories introducing new characters and the readers got to vote on Marvel.com for which one they would like to see again. It all adds up to 50 pages of uninterrupted stories (that’s right, all the nasty adverts are banished to the rear) for your regularly scheduled price, which undoubtedly makes this a smart purchase from the get-go.
So, let’s see what they have to offer…
Story #1: “Mastermind Excello”
Writer: Greg Pak
Artist: Takeshi Miyazawa
Colorist: Christina Strain
The first contender is Amadeus Cho, the seventh smartest person in the world. That might not sound like a particularly impressive number but bear in mind that there are a lot of people in the world. He is a teenager who blew his cover after getting an exceptionally high score on the ‘Brain Fight’ game show run by the Excello Soap Company (hence his new moniker). This led to ‘the enemy’ blowing up his house. They didn’t kill him because, well, otherwise it would just be a story about a dead smart kid in a coffin and it wouldn’t be particularly entertaining. His family is presumed dead though, and Cho is now on the run from the unseen forces who would either like to capture him and use his intelligence for their own nefarious agenda or just kill him before he can benefit somebody else. A government official called Agent Sexton is trying to track him down in order to protect him but Cho is understandably paranoid about this and just wants to solve this by himself. He is hiding out in one of those middle-of-the-desert diners that seem to pop up every so often in the Marvel Universe, usually when Bruce Banner is on the lam. In a perhaps not unrelated matter, this story does feature a special guest appearance by a well-known Marvel superhero. Anyway, Cho is of course found by the people hunting him and has to make a daring escape before kindly informing Sexton that he is now coming to find her, not the other way around. It’s a thoroughly effective introduction to the character that gives him a clear motivation and a fixed goal to work towards. It’s also rather unusual to find a character whose sole ability is his uncanny intelligence, which seems to manifest itself through a sort of mathematical vision that quickly processes the best angles to utilize whatever materials are nearby in order to evade harm. In a cute twist, using his powers to any great extent makes Cho very, very hungry straight afterwards. There is definitely scope to continue his story.
Story #2: “Blackjack”
Writer: Dan Slott
Artist: Pete Woods
Colorist: Brad Anderson
The ‘Amazingly Fantastic Adventures of Blackjack’ are certainly entertaining but they limit their chances of getting voted for by the format. Rather than doing one eight-page story, Slott and Woods have gone for four two-page tales that act as breaks in between the larger stories in the book. They deserve tremendous credit for managing to squeeze so much visceral action into each short, which follows One-Eyed Jacqui and Ace as they embark on various cases for G.R.A.M.P.A., the Global Reaction Agency for Mysterious Paranormal Activity. This means battling vampires, aliens, mechanoids, rapidly-evolved monkeys and other assorted enemies with a vast array of snazzy weaponry and props (including, in a funny spot, a storage cupboard packed with mass-produced Ultimate Nullifiers, Cosmic Cubes, Infinity Gauntlets and Holy Grails). The format and the wonderful interaction between the two agents have the effect of watching episodes of The Avengers on fast-forward whilst downing shots of espresso (and heaven knows there is more old-school fun here than in the hallowed pages of NEW AVENGERS). The last story, “Happy Ending”, shows that Ace and Jacqui are not always going to use their abilities for what the general public deems to be the greater good. They want the populace to remain in suitable state of misery in order to learn to thrive for what they perceive to be the greatest greater good, so to speak. It’s an interesting hook but trying to expand the format to a fuller length might compromise the thrill of these shorts. Putting some more two-page back-up strips into the pages of various other Marvel titles would be a far more suitable method of using these characters.
Story #3: “The Great Video”
Writer: Daniel Way
Artist: Nick Dragotta
Colorist: Lee Loughridge
Paul Vance attempts insurance fraud by burning down his video rental store, which has been rapidly losing customers to the blockbustin’ business named Big Budget Video (oh yes, I went there). Paul’s intentions were as noble as they were misguided. He started the fire in order to get money to please his girlfriend Janie so that they could move to a nice big house outside the city. Even though the arson was apparently her idea, she has left him for somebody else and Paul winds up in hospital after getting trapped in the fire. Important Comics Nexus Safety Tip – when planning arson you should always ensure your escape route is clear and well-marked.
And twice on Sundays, Non-asphyxiated Editor K.-
Now Paul is stuck in the hospital with bad burns and the police are asking questions. He also seems to have a strange form of X-ray vision that he cannot control. It makes the people he looks at seem more like monsters than mere skeletons and can cause spontaneous combustion. He busts out of the hospital to try and reconcile things with Janie but then turns his aggression towards the manager of Big Budget Video when that goes pear-shaped; recording everything on the video camera that was the only thing she left him. There is definitely a good story in here somewhere but it remains rather muddled in this format. His abilities are not clear at all and the thought of a guy walking around with a video camera strapped to his head is rather laughable, even within the context of the ludicrous superhero costumes of the Marvel Universe. Nonetheless, if Way could expand this to a standalone graphic novel then it would certainly be worthwhile.
Story #4: “Monstro”
Writer: Robert Kirkman
Penciler: Khary Randolph
Inker: John Stanisci
Colorist: Val Staples
As anybody who remembers THE CALL OF DUTY will know, Joe Quesada seems to have a thing for firefighters. I am almost certain that his interest is purely platonic but anyway, here we have a Kirkman firefighter called Frank. He is called Monstro by some, such as his good friend and fellow fireman John, but he apparently finds the term quite offensive. The basic hook is that Frank has some sort of special ability that would be enough to get him onto a superhero team like the Avengers (though to be realistic we’d be talking Thunderbolts level here) but he doesn’t want to live in the limelight and so just uses his power in a perfectly admirable, respectable and legal way as part of the FDNY. Unfortunately for Frank, as his rescues become more and more daring and he remains relatively unscathed by them, the media is slowly starting to take more of an interest in him. The exact nature of ‘Monstro’ remains a mystery as is his true reasoning behind wishing to keep his abilities a secret, though it does appear to have something to do with his missing wife and daughter. Again, the story has the potential to be fleshed out into a rather interesting series yet it doesn’t have the urgency of “Mastermind Excello” in the way it introduces the premise and fleshes out the characters.
Story #5: “Heartbreak Kid”
Writer: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Penciler: Jeff Parker
Inker: Sal Buscema
Colorist: Lovern Kindzierski
This is the first of two Spider-Man tales in the book, which were no doubt thrown in to try and hook curious buyers more than to try and introduce a potentially recurring character. The Heartbreak Kid in question is not a balding wrestler with bad fashion sense and embarrassing dance moves. He is Danny Shephard, who has the ability to detect sadness and grief in others and absorb it into himself in order to lift their burden. It’s hinted that he may be doing this for a rather non-heroic, parasitic purpose but this theory is not fully explored. Basically, the story is a gimmick that is set in the past during Peter Parker’s high school years. Uncle Ben has only just been buried and Peter is at the peak of his angst-filled nature over the manner of his uncle’s death. Danny turns up and offers to free him from his pain but Peter refuses because the pain is a part of him and of his memories of his beloved uncle, which he will have to come to terms with himself. That’s about it, really. There’s not a great deal to expand on for further stories and this one could almost have come from the pages of SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED. It’s worth a look at though, especially for the old school, dot-coloured artwork that is immeasurably helped by the presence of the one and only Sal Buscema.
Story #6: “Positron”
Writer: Sean McKeever
Artist: Kristian Donaldson
Consulting Editor: MacKenzie Cadenhead
Get ready for the only major disappointment in this book – a poorly executed Sean McKeever story. Yes, the man that brought you MARY JANE and SENTINEL and the astounding THE WAITING PLACE contributes a rather flat tale here. Positron, real name Annie, is made of positronic energy, her skin is just a shell and she eats gamma rays for food. We know this because she just flat out states it in a real dialogue clunker. Her father, some sort of weird scientist type that carries out experiments on his daughter, has finally managed to track her down with the assistance of one Jackson Clarke. As is the way though, Jackson and Annie have fallen for one another in a whirlwind romance. It’s not enough to stop Jackson from going through with his pre-arranged deal with her father, even though he flatly refuses his financial reward due to some very strange sense of pride. Although Donaldson does a terrific job with some very vibrant artwork, the story itself is strangely unaffecting. Still, if RUNAWAYS ever needs another supporting character to work with then they could do far worse than hooking up with Positron.
Story #7: “The Guy In Spider-Man’s Armpit”
Writer: Dan Slott
Penciler: Patrick Scherberger
Inker: Norman Lee
Colorist: Matt Nelson
Finally, the book concludes as Slott explores one of the most well-known mystery characters in the history of comic books – the guy that Spider-Man was holding on the cover of the original AMAZING FANTASY #15. It’s just a little two-page short. As it turns out the guy in question (his name is Steve and he’s on the phone to a guy named Stan… ’nuff said, true believer!) thought he saw somebody swinging by his office window, he stuck his head out to see what was going on and wound up plunging several stories before Spidey swung by again and caught him. It’s a very charming little tale and, in a moment that is pure Slott, Spidey has some typically self-deprecating comments about those well-known words he said on the cover in question. It’s a very nice way to end a very good book and no, Steve was not available for selection on the Marvel.com vote.
